Interpreting Silences
by Bee Stella
Summary: Blank period fluff(ish?) fic about communication and grief, trigger warning: miscarriage.


**I have no idea what this is other than some blank period nonsense that occurred to me last night. Review if you like it or have suggestions, I'm open to continuing this but have no idea where I would take the story, so if you want to see it take a certain direction, let me know! **

They had been tentatively dating for almost a month when Sasuke asked her to marry him. Sasuke and Sakura had barely kissed, their relationship consisted of little more than late night conversations and furtive glances, but neither of them was keen on wasting more time than they already had. They had a simple ceremony with her parents, Kakashi, and Naruto. They left soon after, and he showed her the parts of his world she had been denied before. They explored each other for months, learning the other's habits and mannerisms. Sasuke had little trouble learning from her, she was so open with him it was easy, and despite his taciturn personality, she seemed to be learning from him, too.

It was because of this that he noticed she was behaving strangely. Her comments were subdued, not at all the chipper tone she usually took with him. Twice he caught her staring off into the distance, concentrating so hard that he would call her name three or four times before he could get her attention. He had made several attempts to ask her what was wrong, but he failed miserably every time. By the end of the week, Sakura's mood was black, and Sasuke did his best to both avoid her and be attentive as possible, which in the end did nothing but put her in a worse mood.

When they rolled out their bedrolls that night, he laid awake for hours, worrying over Sakura. Was she homesick? They had only been gone a few months. For him, the time away from Konoha seemed insignificant, but he understood that she was unused to such prolonged absences. He thought perhaps that she might be craving any contact other than his own, it had been a while since they passed through a village in their travels. He preferred to avoid small towns, too often people recognized him, either from his previous travels or from his crimes before the war, and while he wanted to share his life with Sakura, he wasn't quite ready for her to face the totality of his actions.

Some bleak part of him wondered if Sakura was beginning to regret marrying him. He had done nothing but drag her into the wilderness and cart her around.

He allowed himself to become lost in these thoughts, and his eyes finally drifted closed. He laid there, torturing himself for a while, before he finally felt sleep tugging on his consciousness, until a tiny sob pulled him back. It was clearly not meant for him to hear, muffled as it was. He was frozen, wanting to reach over and comfort her but unsure how to do so. A shaking, hiccuping breath finally forced his limbs to move, and he found himself gathering her in his arm, tucking her head under his chin. He let her cry for a while, stroking her hair while she clung to his shirt. He raked his brain for something to say but nothing came to him. He realized he had no idea how to comfort her. No idea what was wrong, even.

As always, she could sense his discomfort. She pulled away from him and wiped her face. "I'm sorry," she said, "I thought you were asleep." She pulled her blanket up to her chin and turned away from him.

"Sakura," he said, because what else could he say?

He saw her shoulders shake and he hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry," he started. "I know you're unhappy...I don't know why but-" He took a deep breath. "I just want to help fix it."

She was silent for a few beats.

"I miscarried on Sunday."

Sasuke appeared to have been struck on the head. His face was screwed up in a way she had never seen, and for a moment she was afraid he would get up and walk away.

'You were pregnant?" he asked, and she flinched.

She watched him attempt to process the information, his face slowly returning to normal.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I had only just figured it out. I was trying to find a way to tell you when it happened."

"I meant about the miscarriage."

His eyes were burning into her with such intensity that she was tempted to back up. She had tried to keep this to herself for so many reasons...because she was still trying to understand what had happened herself, because this was the one thing in the world he wanted most, and she didn't want to resurrect his hope for family only to crush it in the same sentence. What she hadn't counted on when she decided not to tell him was the debilitating grief she felt, despite barely knowing she was pregnant when she lost their child. Haunting her the most was the fear that she may be infertile. A cursory check of her womb showed no obvious reason for the miscarriage, but even the best of medical nin had no explanation for some women. Sometimes, it just happened.

How in the gods name could she say any of that to him, though? Sakura knew that she was wrong, she should have told him, because he was her husband if nothing else. Mostly she just wanted to spare him from grieving over his family _again_. But the look he was giving her was raw, unfiltered love, and she knew he had basically read her mind in that moment, he had figured out all the reasons she didn't want to tell him that she had lost his own flesh and blood. A sob clawed its way up her throat without her permission, and Sasuke made a wretched noise before he crushed her to his chest with such force her breath flew from her lungs.

They clung to each other for a moment, and then he pulled away just enough to press his forehead to hers. His eyes were red, although no tears marked his face.

"You don't need to shoulder my grief. I've made peace with what happened, and I won't have my past hurt you any more than it already has." He said. "We can try again when we get home if you want. Or not. I've been given more than I deserve already."

"The world owes you more than a few moments of happiness if I have anything to say about it."


End file.
